, al qaeda and taliban, is to lie low, let time pass, and then rise again. so declaring... giving a timeline, i have always been saying that it ought to be effected, what effects do we want to create? you can't have it time related because then you'll be in the hands of the enemy, i would say. and if you leave in 2014 without stabilizing afghanistan, what will happen then? we need to visualize. >> well, the problem is... the difficulty i think for america is afghanistan hasn't been stable since, i guess, hannibal. (laughter) so the idea that we could stay there... (laughter). they don't appear to want to be stabilized so i mean... i guess the problem is can we really do that? can we do that for a country and is pakistan going to give them the room that they would need to do that or would they perhaps try and have some influence with the taliban adds well? >> well, first of all, i think afghanistan was stable since centuries. >> jon: well, obviously i was being humerus. (laughter) ... humorous. >> they had an agreement. the ethnic groups decided to stay toget